7 WEEK LETHARGIC SQUIRREL

[Megarat]

Hi Everyone!

A few days ago my sister found an abandoned squirrel. He seemed healthy but very small. He was active and climbed around all day. We took him to the park for exercise and tried to find his mother to no avail.

He has been eating a variety of foods - mainly sunflower seeds, vegetables, walnuts and almonds. We did not have access to a pet store until today so we got him formula after 2 days of him drinking water and some yogurt for calcium.

Last night in the middle of the night he just became lethargic. He gets very stiff and curves his tail to his head, or is not moving at all. We gave him sugar water which helped for about 4 hours, (he crawled very slowly but aimlessly and his legs were uncoordinated but at least he seemed a bit active)

Now it seems he has gotten WORSE and he is breathing from his mouth. Breaths are shallow and then he takes one big gasp for air.

He doesn't seem cold, but we have a warm damp towel on him.

We keep trying to give him water or food and he will not take either. This has been ongoing for 7 hours now and his state is ik constant fluctuation.

Does anyone know what the cause of this might be? If it is his food how could it affect his breathing? And so quickly?!

[SugarHill]

this sounds bad...Could you post a picture?
What kind of formula did you get? Did he aspirate? The mouth breathing sounds like possibly pneumonia...

I know keeping him warm is important; hopefully some more experienced folks will be on here soon.

[CritterMom]

It does sound like pneumonia from aspiration. The other symptoms are troubling as well.

Do you have any syrup - maple, pancake, karo - anything like that? If not, you can mix a thick slurry from table sugar and aq few drops of water. Regardless of what you use, get some in his mouth. He doesn't even have to swallow - the mucous membranes will absorb if he doesn't. It sounds like blood sugar and pneumonia issues.

Do you have any human or pet antibiotics? Cipro would be excellent. If so, list what you have along with the milligram size per pill.

[Megarat]

We put sone honey in his tongue.

We don't have any antibiotics - just regular allergy, cold and migrane medicine...

Would holding him in a certain way help naturally drain fluids in his airway?

[HRT4SQRLS]

Did you use a syringe or eyedropper for getting water into him?
Fluid will go into the babies lungs if they are on their back like a human baby when taking fluids. They must be upright with the syringe pointed UP into the mouth.

Do you hear clicking when the baby breaths? Listen closely with the baby next to your ear. Even faint clicking is a sign of pneumonia. In this case, I still suspect pneumonia even if you don't hear clicking.

It only takes one pill of an antibiotic. I would call around to friends or family.

Would you like for us to find a rehabber near you?

[CritterMom]

What formula did you get and how did you mix it?

[SugarHill]

if he is hypoglycemic, you should see some improvement almost immediately after putting some sugar/honey on his gums. I know they can seize up and get stiff like that when they get extremely low blood sugar, or even go into seizures.

the mouth breathing is alarming though; see if you can acquire some antibiotics through friends, family, anyone...if it's pneumonia, getting Ab is a must. Pneumonia, being bacterial, can kill them very fast